babka

er, hillvalley? I know D.C. must seem awfully provincial sometimes compared to New York, but you TRIED TO FIND CHINATOWN PARKING ON SATURDAY NIGHT???? and busboy--I can try to get a chinese-speaker to talk with them about a good dinner. he's vegetarian, though, so would be more inclined to negotiate meat and seafood dishes for us if, say, we could talk Monica into hosting an event at Woodlands later on....

actually, we're the one misnomer--the Spanish Safeway. it was accurate 20 years ago, but the barrio has been pushed back from 18th to 16th street, and is now leaping out into the suburbs. remaining salvadorans shop largely on Mt. Pleasant and northern 14th. soviet safeway is on 17th and dear god--I love shopping there, only because it's so mind-blowingly awful--some genie in its shift software took the name a little bit too much to heart. Splendid Safeways. Click on the icons for an elegant display of too much alcohol, time, and computing power.

can we get a subhed on this thread warning about reading on a queasy stomach?

I can't speak to Giants, but Safeways vary tremendously based largely on their customer demographics. 10 years ago, at least the rich neighborhoods got the good stuff and the poor neighborhoods got the castoffs. My info source (a former area produce manager) is no longer available, but I'd guess that such practice continues to be the case based on on poking through the stores in various neighborhoods. Here in Adams Morgan/Mt. Pleasant, our store has undergone a dramatic quality improvement in the last five years, corresponding to the rapid gentrification of its customer base. (still not good in the basic meat department, but I don't shop there for that anyway. the collards, on the other hand, are damn reliable...but they're hard to screw up.) I'm lucky to have a couple of fantastic ethnic markets in the neighborhood, which reliably offer better produce, fish, and meat, replete with Real Butchers...but my staple yogurt, humane-ish eggs and meat, crackers, olives, and parsley still come from whole foods, which is actually pretty price-competitive on such yuppie basics.

it may well have been our waiter, who apparently handling us (table) and some bar duties....and they were lovely about asking how things were in the first part of the meal, while we were delightedly munching on the yawzaa salad (why does this place always nail that dish so well!) but disappeared entirely when we started having problems in getting, say, food. preferably cooked right. please don't take this as a blanket anything of Palena--I feel slightly guilty in posting since I haven't noted several stupendous, wonderful experiences there in recent months--once when I inadvertently inflicted a table from hell on our poor waiter (a bunch of lovely visiting internationals whom, unbeknownst to me, were fanatically picky eaters and/or indecisive and/or not hungry and/or had had tooth surgery that week....in the linguistic confusion of the meal, our server somehow got the idea that the eight of us were going to pay with individual credit cards. He handled it with a smile and not a hint of censure until he opened the bill and saw just one card, which we'd intended but apparently failed to communicate. I've rarely seen such a lovely smile of relief in a restaurant) and once last week for a birthday celebration--it's just that I've learned to depend on 'em for an oasis of goodness, and they fell so strangely short last night that we suspected a capacity problem on Mondays.

actually, I would advise against the Monday night idea, or at least like to hear other thoughts. I took my mother last night, and it was the first time I've ever, ever, ever been disappointed in Palena. Both the service and timing was off--either our waiter had a horrible night, or the restaurant doesn't do well at the partial capacity on Monday nights, when it's not geared up for back room service and the full menu. Salad arrived fairly quickly, but the promise of, say, entrees once we had finished with it took an extra thirty minutes. Our waiter finally came over and asked if we were still waiting for our food. When we nodded hungrily, he said he'd go see what was holding the kitchen up. He returned immediately with three plates, saying they'd just been finished--but since my rare hamburger had warmed to _medium_ by that point and the fry plate wasn't nearly as crisp as memory served, I'm not fully convinced. Ordering dessert took three attempts--once telling our waiter that we'd like coffee right away but needed a moment to decide on dessert; once 10 minutes later telling the maitre 'd that we'd really, really like to order dessert, please, and then still another ten minutes later before our waiter came to ask what we would like. (when it came, mind you, it was fantastic...lime tart...mmmhmmm....) will freely admit that I was sleep-deprived and taking a deadline break for dinner, so this all annoyed me much more than it usually would...but two hours after entering, we were both convinced that we'd never, ever return on a Monday night.

whenever a well-intentioned house guest gets ahold of the cast iron before I can hide it, I reseason it by oiling and leaving in my oven for a few days with just the pilot light on. works wonders.

I'm curious to know what others make of this southern Indian chain. I've only been there twice now, both times to the New Hampshire Ave. strip mall oasis, and ate too much too happily both times. It's always been filled with Indian families--parents walking their children through the buffet, forcing carrots on them and assuring the three year old to try the Upami--you'll like it, I swear--older couples sitting over their plate for hours, and jeweled saris waiting patiently for the single ladies room to become available. We paint one large plate with dabs of everything the first time through, eat too much, and then go back for seconds of everything we liked...then try the desserts, wince, and grab a small third round of the really good stuff. We grab dosas when they become available and fill stainless bowls with bright soups and chutneys; of the buffet dishes, today's hit was a pumpkin masala; a vaguely-asian tasting cauliflower dish; fried chilis, and something beautiful and crimson that we never managed to identify--all for $8.95....

joke. the three times I've been to Palena cafe in late-ish hours, have been impressed by the number of restaurant folks hanging out there--many, I think, from Palena itself, but never actively inquired--speaks well of a place when folks choose to not flee out the door when their shift is over, if my impression is correct.

man--I missed seeing the esteemed scallywag in person!! sorry--her birthday was tuesday. monday was staying up all night on deadline, and since there was no sleep between the two, the demarcation of sunlight gets a little hard to note... but the late-night crew at Palena's bar ALWAYS looks like a remarkably unsavoury er, talented and gifted bunch of people used to wielding knives with great dexterity.

Monday night, my tongue was screaming for good food and my friend was screaming for her birthday. But with both wallets closer to penny-wise than pound-foolish status, we went out to Palena Cafe and together split one six course order from the restaurant side. It was perfect--with one glass of wine, tax and tip, the total came to $100, which was still on my rich side...but hey, it was a birthday. If you go at off-times, many good restaurants are fine with serving two diners the equivalent of one meal--usually even splitting dishes into two plates without a request. If it's not enough food, we'll go home for crackers and cheese, and we always tip as though we'd ordered two.

I love this recipe Sauteed Scallops with Rosemary and Lemon

NECTAR! responsible for a new and far-too-pricey-weekly-habit at fresh fields. actually, fresh fields is a pretty good place to play with cheeses--they let you sample the good stuff, and their prices are cheaper than most other retail operations in town. that said--does anyone know where you can get Cowgirl Creamery here?

ok, messing with the donuts is one thing...I'll admit that I've never wakened sufficiently early on a Saturday morning to dodge the traffic/strollers/pandas that careen between here and there... but now she's done it. too far. over the line. she's messed with the cookies and caramels at Palena. no more ordering desserts for your companion and yourself and then wriggling eyebrows, eyes, and/or cash (add other assets if you got 'em) to bribe a couple of caramels out of your waiter. no more shortbread cookies with coffee. no more caramels ripping out your teeth as you stumble happily into the night. no more "I don't care if you're on a diet--look how small the cookies are." according to our (kind, bright, knowledgeable, and graceful) waitress this evening, people were "ordering just the cookies" and she "doesn't want to spend her life baking cookies" and "wants people to try the other desserts." Those caramels were like crack--why did she get us addicted only to rip them away???

can safely say that Primanti's was the first time in my life I'd been overwhelmed by a sandhich...

it's not for cocktails, or even close, but I always keep a very good bottle of single malt scotch on hand...it lasts for years if you only break it out for special occasions, but believe me--when sh*t or joy hits the fan, and you're there to console or elevat the spirit, it marks the occasion.

just fyi--Breadline's bread is available at my neighborhood farmer's market (Mt. Pleasant) during the summer...replete with samples and fresh butter. The guy selling it made a clear distinction between the bread at the market and the business for lunch--not sure what Furstenberg's (sp?) contracting arrangement is, but would a) love to know and b) love to figure out how to support it by encouraging other folks and farmer's markets to carry it in the neighborhood. not least b/c my market's still down for the winter.

they had the fried fish yesterday, Malawry.

How is it that in 17 pages worth of DelMarVa D.C. threads, Breadline hasn't earned a single one of its own yet? Oh sure, we dance around it when talking about the sorry state of bread in the district, and it earns its dutiful approbation in discussions of random lunches and earnest warm days....but c'mon, this place makes me as happy as a lunch without martinis can make me! So what makes you smile and sweat through its maze of folks? for me, the bbq pork with spicy coleslaw on sweet, crumby bread sings away the rain, while the prosciutto with fig paste marks the spring. Cucumber water is far better than the two-bit scam I first assumed it to be, and the little ciabattas make my home-packed tuna come alive.

other cheapie places that could be good for groups: Dukem for Ethiopian Amma's Vegetarian Kitchen and/or Nirvana--good, inexpensive, roomy, interesting. MarkN suggested barbeque. Cafe Atlantico: $22 for the early 3-course menu. Hotel Helix: thick grilled good burger with smoked cheddar, fries, and a pabst for $6.50--higher quality beers for $7.50--during happy hour Time-limited Drinks and Dishes at Andale, Chef Geoff, Corduroy, David Greggory, or M-Street bar and Grill WP roundup of high-end happy hours and Les Halles (where I've never been and clearly has mixed reviews) offers 3 courses for $17.89 until 7 pm.

little to say but Thank You!

I don't remember watching him on the tube--my introduction to him came in high school, when a friend and I were charged with cooking a main dish for our french class's feast and we selected the chicken in wine from his book. recipe was good, and I stole his mother's cookbook to read it cover to cover. then started reading his other books-- I'm bad at following recipes, tending to clump four or five similar ones together and go from there, so I can't speak to the technicalities of his work. but the writing! yeah, it reads like an overly-friendly children's minister's prose--but the context and history he puts before each dish, and each chapter, is fantastic--would love to see more of that in cookbooks. when I'm feeling too sick to read something requiring an attention span of more than a page, or so, I read Immigrant Ancestors, American dishes, and the foods from the old testament book--they're good.

Regarding the above pernicious rumor concerning Zaytinya: Please note that the patio is, indeed open, but do not attempt to sit at the only downtown tables bathed in light on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Judging by the hordes present today, far too few people understand the potential dangers: 1) Pomegranate seeds, due to their inherent quality of "redness," accelerate the uptake of ultraviolet radiation. Better to race with your seeded drink into a dark closet and consume by candlelight. 2) Angora goats from the Ringling Bros. circus at MCI are easily confused by the breath of spring and sometimes stampede in search of their native land. The aromas of Turkish eggplant and goat yogurt wafting off the patio of Zaytina make it the most likely spot of conflict. 3) Bulgarian spies, frustrated by their portrayal as KBG stools in the nearby Spy museum, have been known to take their ricin-laced umbrellas and sit down for a stiff drink. Finding not Rakiya but Retsina, and wines from Macedonia instead of Melnik, only makes them angrier. 4) The sprinkler system, accustomed to long dormancy in the dead of winter, gets easily confused on Sundays. When the restaurant staff makes up for your soaked newspaper and damp bag by giving you a dish of olive oil ice cream with coffee on the side, the resulting sense of guilt nearly overwhelms the sublimity of the cream. So go somewhere else, and leave the risky, light-drenched chairs to one fully prepared for the potential dangers that Zaytinya entails. like me.

not sure if that's our literary or political zeitgeist. not sure I wanna know.

An old friend was in town from NYC this evening and wanted a nice dinner. Being the self-sacrificial type, I offered to let him take me to Atlantico. afterwards, he cleared his throat, in that lovely self-conscious manner that men can assume. "I just wanted you to know that tonight was a very special evening for me." "Oh?" "I've always believed that Washington restaurants were awful. They're Southern, and they glop sauce all over everything." And? "I was wrong." the fun part, though, was that I went to Atlantico for brunch a month ago and tasted a gazzilion plates of individual dishes ... some worked, some (grilled watermelon) didn't. but the grilled watermelon surfaced again tonight with the pheasant and oh my, that did worked. it's like struggling through a very pleasant dictionary and then, suddenly, understanding Proust. or at least Antoine de Saint Exupery. (and, confidential to our waiter---you were right, my stomach really _did_ want the conch fritters again, and they were just as fantastic as they were the last time, and I'm so impressed that you picked that up from my subconscious when my tongue fairly clearly asked for the marinated foie gras. )